Cider of Treachery
by Fantasizing-Lady-Knight
Summary: What would happen if Neal decided to put a truth pill in Dom's glass of cider? What would Dom reveal? How dead would Neal be when Dom found out? Read to find out! KelDom


Joy! I, Fanta, have returned! This is my first one-shot ficlet. I just had this wacko kind of idea, so I used it...umm...yeah...

Disclaimer: Yes, /of course/ I'm Tamora Pierce! I mean, seeing how wonderful my writing skills are, who /else/ could I be? ::Uncrosses fingers:: I like lying to myself. It's fun.

This little fic is dedicated to the my last day of summer vacation... ::sob:: ::weeps hysterically:: why did summer have to leave me? Why? Why? ::continues to grieve::

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Cider of Treachery

By Fantasizing-Lady-Knight

Usually Domitan of Masbolle, or Dom, for short, would have been suspicious if his dearest cousin, Nealan of Queenscove, or Meathead, asked Dom to his (Neal's) room to talk. But today was different—Neal had just seemed so...innocent...and...sincere...if it /was/ possible for Neal to be that way...besides, Dom needed something to get his mind off of a certain lady knight...

A beautiful pair of hazel eyes obscured his vision for a second. He shuddered. He /definitely/ needed a distraction...lately he had been feeling weird around a particular friend of his Meathead cousin. He had suddenly started to notice a certain lady knight in an odd way, accompanied with odd fluttery feelings in the pit of his stomach. He wasn't even sure /why/...

Dom was now strolling in the direction of his dear cousin's room, apprehension now starting to cloud his good mood.

He had reached Neal's door. Dom cringed inwardly—where had the time gone to?—and knocked quietly, shouting, "Here I am, dearest Meathead! Let me in!"

The door swung open to reveal Neal, scowling at Dom with enough ill-will to peel paint. Dom just grinned evilly and cooed, "What's the matter with poor wittle Nealan this time?"

Neal glared at his cousin and snapped, "Don't call me that! And why /are/ you here?"

Dom grinned broader, but decided that he should stop teasing Neal before his cousin bit him. "You're the one who invited me...can I come in?"

Neal seemed to remember, and opened the door all of the way so Dom could enter. With Neal's recollection of memory came an evil smirk that plastered over his face. Dom glanced at the grin on his cousin's face with a slight bit of fear creeping into his mind...when Neal smiled that way, nothing good was going to happen. Trying to act as casual as possible, Dom slunk over to one of the armchairs in Neal's suite and draped himself on it. Neal went to the chair opposite of Dom and plopped himself down on it unceremoniously.

Although Dom was still slightly nervous, he soon loosened up enough to chat with Neal about various things: war strategies, the Own, knighthood, weapons... Neal finally got up to pour the both of them drinks. Since Dom was more relaxed now, he failed to notice that when Neal poured Dom's drink, the knight slipped a small white pill into the sergeant's glass. The pill fizzled, dissolved, then was gone, not leaving any trace that it was there before.

Dom, not suspecting anything unusual, picked up his drink and tasted it. He was pleased to find that it was mulled cider. With thanks to his cousin, he drank a few more gulps before setting the glass down. Neal grinned widely...the same evil, mischievous grin that had split his face when Dom had come into his room.

Dom's innards suddenly wrenched with fear...something wasn't right...

Neal smirked and questioned his cousin, "Dom, was it you who dressed me up in face-paint and a wig when I was sleeping? You know, when we were kids?"

Dom smiled in remembrance and replied, "N-yes." He had tried to say no, but for some odd reason half-way through the word, his vocal cords had changed what he was saying. He had sworn to himself that he would never tell Neal that he had done that, but for some bizarre reason, 'yes' had come out instead of 'no'.

Neal jumped up and did a little victory dance, chanting, "I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!" Finally he calmed down enough to sit back on the chair, evil grin spreading across his face. His plan was working.

Neal slowly told him, "I've seen you acting strangely around Kel lately...blushing and such...not to mention that you flirt with her about twice as much now..." the knight grinned suggestively.

Dom's guts quirked again...uh oh...if Neal got ideas, Dom would never live them down...

Dom, trying to sound normal asked, "Errr...w-what's your point?" he inwardly kicked himself...smooth, /real/ smooth...

Neal's impish grin only grew wider, "Fine...I'll be direct with you...do you like Kel in a more-than-friendly kind of way?"

Dom blushed and inwardly yelled at himself, You don't! You don't! So why are you blushing??? He couldn't even answer himself. He knew he didn't like her like /that/...Then why have you been noticing her lately, hmmm? asked the nasty, cynical back of his mind...the one that always made sense. Why have you lately noticed how long her eyelashes are, or how graceful she is when she practices her glaive, or the exact shade of her glossy brown hair? Why have you smiled at her not just because you have a reputation as a flirt, but to see her smile back? Dom inwardly bellowed with frusteration and kicked those thoughts back into the far, far, far corners of his mind. Kel was just a friend. And he had to tell Neal that before his dearest Meathead cousin got ideas about the reason Dom was blushing.

Dom opened his mouth to deny his cousin's claim, but the words he spoke were, "Yes."

Dom's eyes widened in horror, and he paled a few shades. What had he just said? He had to correct himself or Neal would never leave him alone! Once more he spoke, "Yes." He was now completely appalled and tried several more times to say no, only to have the words come out, "Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes."

Neal's grin was now so wide that Dom was worried for his cousin's sanity (and that was saying a lot, considering worrying about /Neal/ was the last thing he would usually do).

Neal knew very well why Dom was repeating it over and over again, but he couldn't help but tease his cousin, "I get the point, Dom, you don't have to say it so many times!"

Dom gave his cousin a death glare and then a thought struck him. He muttered quietly, dangerously low, "What did you put in my drink, Neal?"

Neal grinned rather nervously and his palms began to sweat. The last time he had seen that expression on Dom's face, he had been tied to the tree for six hours before anyone came.

Neal fidgeted and eyed his cousin warily, then, deciding it was best to answer and get it over with, he stammered, "Err...t-truth pills...?"

Dom rolled his head back to stare at the ceiling for several seconds, mouthing, 'why me?' over and over. Dom had never been so exasperated with his cousin in all his life...why did Neal do these things to him? "Truth pills? Truth pills? Neal! /I/ didn't even know I liked Kel! I didn't know why I was acting weird around her!" Dom yelled at his cousin.

"That's why I had to put the pill in your cider, dearest cousin of mine, both of us learned the truth about your certain feelings for a certain lady knight!" much to Dom's immense displeasure, Neal was getting over his nervousness, his smirk broadening.

All Dom did was glare at Neal icily and leave the room, slamming the door closed behind him. Neal was a little guilty, but only a little. Now he could tell Kel that her feelings for a certain sergeant were returned...she had never really told Neal that she had a crush on Dom, but Neal had eyes. Kel always blushed when Dom flirted with her or complimented her, she was always as jumpy as a nervous doe around him, she stammered while talking to him, and whenever someone mentioned his name, she would sigh wistfully and daydream for the next thirty minutes.

Neal smiled and thought optimistically, Well, Dom took it better than I thought—he didn't even beat me to a pulp! I should really do things like this more often.

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Dom had never been so humiliated in all of his life. How could Neal have done that? It was just plain mean.

Dom knew one thing though: The choices now were that either he tell Kel his feelings, or /Neal/ tell Kel his feelings. Dom grimaced—it was absolutely no choice at all—and quickened his pace to Kel's rooms.

Dom halted in front of Kel's door and knocked. After a few minutes Kel's voice called, "Come in! The door's unlocked!"

Dom obeyed and stepped into the suite to find Kel in the middle of a complicated glaive dance. The glaive's blade was just a shining blur attached to a whirling brown blur. She traveled from move to move without even hesitating, making everything smooth and amazingly fast.

Finally she ended the dance, the blade at the end of a "chop" position a few inches above a chair. She placed her glaive on her weapon rack and wiped her forehead on her sleeve before turning to see her guest. Seeing it was Dom, she immediately turned crimson and looked away, murmuring, "Hello, Dom."

She had been so graceful during that practice dance, so beautiful, that Dom was oddly breathless. He blushed also and mumbled, "Hi, Kel...err...I-I have to talk to you about something..."

She nodded and gestured the arm chairs in her room to him. He shook his head, refusing the offer, and walked closer until they were only about a foot apart. Then Dom started to stammer, "I-I just wanted to tell you something..." he was feeling rather queer. He had never had trouble pronouncing his interest to court ladies before—why was anything different now? Because she is different, declared the little voice in the back of his head. He continued, "I-I d-don't know how to say this, but here goes nothing..." He leaned down to press his mouth to hers timidly.

Her lips were warm and soft against his, making a shiver run down his spine. He had never felt so carefree and happy in his entire life—with his lips pressed against hers, he felt new energy coursing through him, blood pounding in his veins.

She was rigid with shock. What was happening? But as the kiss continued, she relaxed, which delighted him.

He reached down to wrap his arms about her waist, pulling her closer. After a moment's hesitation, she placed her own arms about his neck, enjoying every second of the embrace.

They kissed passionately for a few minutes before stepping apart from each other to breath. In a voice cracked with emotion, Dom croaked, "And that's how I feel about you."

Kel smiled shakily and whispered, "Me too."

Dom grinned widely and was about to pull her into another kiss when they heard someone from the doorway proclaim, voice dripping with sarcasm, "Aww...how sweet...how I do love happy endings."

The couple sprang apart and lunged to strangle Neal.

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The End!

::giggles:: don't you just want to huggle Neal? His character makes everything more fun... lol. Anyhoo...there we go! Hope you enjoyed it! Toodles!


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